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This project launch is an opportunity for you to join the setiQuest project yourself. Start by reading the material that's here, mentioning this page on your blog or other social media, and registering your email address with us by clicking on the Stay Informed button in the upper right hand corner above.

If you're a software developer: We plan to start hosting code in the second quarter of 2010. The code will be released gradually in modules rather than all at one time, giving us a chance to provide enough documentation about each module so that the code will be clear to radio-astronomy hobbyists. Staged releases will also allow time for focused online discussion about each module within the setiQuest community, building a searchable archive that further increases everyone's (and the project's) collective understanding. At that point our developers will be doing their daily work on the public code repository and will interact with the public through patch submissions and direct reputation building just like with any other Open Source codebase.

If you're a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) geek: Once we have released the DSP code we are hoping that the DSP community will experiment with it, maybe even improve upon it or incorporate it into their research. We'd love to see your algorithms, too.

If you're a Data Parsing or Gaming geek: One of the goals of setiQuest is to start streaming real-time data captured at the Allen Telescope Array so it can be used to feed a number of software clients that allow Citizen Scientists to screen the data by looking for interesting features that our existing algorithms might otherwise overlook. We'll be publishing sample data and draft APIs in the second quarter of 2010 so you can get started and we're hoping to start pushing real-time data not long after. We're hoping to see several clients (visual and otherwise) spring up over the next year or so.

If you're a fan of radio astronomy: We sincerely hope you'll join us as a Citizen Scientist to screen data once there are clients, but until then you can follow us on Twitter or Facebook or any one of several Social Networking feeds listed in the upper left-hand corner of this page. You can also lend support financially by donating to the SETI Institute.

The easiest way to join the quest is by signing up through the button on the top right hand side of this page.